As mentioned, I'll remember the auroral displays in May and October far more than I'll remember the weather events of this year, and that's saying something. In fact, the only thing weather-wise that has perhaps stood out was the early snow event in mid-November. Other than that, I struggle to think.

Here's to a better 2025.

A -9.7c on Jan 18, which is probably nothing remarkable for most

The summer record though set on Aug 12 was 23.8c against a high of 30.2c, and felt pretty sticky. I will remember it for sure, albeit probably only until next summer...

Other than that, the Aurora for sure, especially given how far south we are. Have only seen it once before down here 34 years ago.

Today is a good example.

That's a once every 20 years, if that, event down here! The lowest this year was just -3.4...

For me the humidity in summer is an unpleasant memory (dewpoints hitting the 20s, which is frankly absurd), as are the periodic windstorms of late autumn and winter... with another in a few days. Normally we have one or two blows in the 50s, briefly, but the last two have been prolonged spells of 36 hours or more of strong winds. My least favourite type of weather, and my neighbour stubbornly refuses to repair his poxy fence from two storms ago. (It'll end up costing me, I know it, as it'll need to be fixed by the time I get my dog next year).

Aside from that, there's nothing really worth mentioning... a snow flurry on one day in January, a run of three air frosts in November, and that's about it.

I think the same happen to Bourne Hall lake in Ewell village had a side shallow canal alike that often dry in summer months was so full it flooded half of the road and footpath with bus stop under water for several weeks.  The lake is fed by spring water that stop feeding during late summer to Autumn bfore resuming in winter months.  But stupid council install the water fountain that feed more water from other source than just fountian that cycle by existing water on the lake.  They did not switch off to ease the floodings.  They only switched off if there a big freeze on the way, they install this in 1996 after the dry summers kept drying up the lakes.

Glass half full, or half empty? 😁

… a glass that has been mistreated, dropped on the floor and cracked, resulting in the contents slowly leaking away…

Quite, Peter. I was thinking more of human perception of the GW problem rather than that analogy - but it is a neat one. In addition to our misuse of fuels and the concurrent pollution, we still don't get that remaining non-renewables may well be needed by our descendants in ways we cannot imagine. They would not want to inherit a dystopian planet of discarded waste, pollutants and exhausted natural resources. The geological ages tell us that life will find a way to continue, but whether it will be the rapist human way is by no means certain.

EDIT: No, it was 2003. 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2712045.stm 

Nothing really notable in record breaking terms and I have a feeling 2025 will be similar. 

Hi Roger, my comment was also about the perception of the GW issue - the contents leaking away is a metaphor for the taken for granted stability of our world’s climate, which is slowly leaking away.  At some point people will realise it’s gone and wonder why they didn’t notice before.

The only standout feature of 2024 was the not one but two aurora displays I've been able to easily take photos of on my smartphone, but even that isn't meteorologically related (just lucky that skies were clear on both occasions).

Some counties got 300% of normal rainfall in September. There was enough on the Cotswolds for charging the underground springs that there were still flood alerts downstream e.g. at Bourton-on-the-Water a month later

Sick to death of constant weather warnings and cancellations for absolutely nothing. We are living in the blandest era for weather in recorded history. God only knows how people would cope if we got the sort of extremes that were common in the past, particuarly the 1950s. 

People just got on with things then and coped with the far more severe weather but my Grandparents generation were far better and stronger people than the useless, weak, lame and embarassing wasters around today who sorely need a reality check.

Irritatingly damp year but no real disruputive or severe weather that would have been commonplace in the past. Even the high pressures were damp or even wet. The one in January was just horrific as was Boxing Day - the wettest day I have recorded with a high pressure over 1030mb.

Spring in particular was the absolute pits. Exceptionally dull with an inordinate amount of sunless days. Summer, despite having the 5th lowest pressure since 1866, was nowhere near as bad as the 2007-12 era apart from late June and much of July which was the worst period of the entire year, unbelievably managing to surpass 2012's record for consecutive cloudy days.

August was somehow the sunniest since 2003 yet also ended up as the wettest since 2014 which just sums this year up. A complete absence of any prolonged decent weather.

November was the driest month, for the first time since 1964, and April was the wettest although this horror December could still surpass it. Only five other years since 1856 have had April as the wettest month (1871, 1898, 1934, 1975, 1998) and all had their driest months in the expected period (February, Spring or Summer).

Continuing with the perpetual autumn theme, Christmas Day was warmer than any in the horribly cold final third of September.

Only positive points were two good snowfalls - the first time since 2010 - including the most substantial so early in the autumn since 1971. However both the January and November snowfalls turned to garbage in time for the weekend and that was the worst aspect of the year - the Weekend Curse which just gets worse and worse in defiance of any reasonable expectation.

Worse still all the Holiday Mondays were disgusting and virtually sunless and the year as concluded with the 6th successive abysmal festive season.

I'm surprised there are actually enough material to make up an hour long programme. There is "The Big Snow of '82" on Channel 5 at about the same time, but if it is anything like the recent "The Winter of '63" programme I probably won't bother watching that as well.

They're not really designed for us weather nerds, are they?

If you're anything like me, you want to see charts for the time, explaining the meteorological mechanics behind the events, along with maps of the country showing approx snow depths - with discussion about the various areas.

Instead, you have voxpops of people telling anecdotes and contextless clips of cars stuck in snow.

Also see #133 on the TV & Film thread in the Forum Arms for tomorrow's shipping forecast programmes

I did watch a pair of C4 programmes about the wet and windy winter of 2013/4 over Christmas with the obligatory talking head giving the Jet Stream 1.0 talk but I have to see the newsreel stuff and especially the cellphone video was impressive

I had almost forgotten about that 4 month conveyor belt of deep depressions approaching from the SW and my £800 bill for a completely new fence

https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/articles/c1mrz200474o 

It certainly doesn’t sound boring. 🙂

Temperature (°C)

Lowest Minimum:                                                                                   -6.10 (on 17/1/24)

Highest Minimum:                                                                                  15.60 (on 18/7/24)

Mean Minimum:                                                                                      6.48

Minimum Anomaly:                                                                                +0.70

Lowest Maximum:                                                                                  -0.60 (on 11/12/24)

Highest Maximum:                                                                                 24.70 (on 5/8/24)

Mean Maximum:                                                                                     13.34

Maximum Anomaly:                                                                               +0.54

Lowest Average:                                                                                    -2.50 (on 17/1/24)

Highest Average:                                                                                   19.02 (on 28/7/24)

Average Temperature:                                                                           9.91

Average Anomaly:                                                                                  +0.65

Lowest Diurnal Temperature Range:                                                   0.90 (on 1/4/24)

Highest Diurnal Temperature Range:                                                 15.71 (on 30/7/24)

Average Diurnal Temperature Range:                                                 6.83

Other Temperature Statistics

Minimum Temperatures Below -10°C:                                            0

Single Figures Maximum Temperatures:                                        92

Single Figures Minimum Temperatures:                                         227

Double Figures Maximum Temperatures:                                       234

Double Figures Minimum Temperatures:                                        106

Maximum Temperatures Above 20°C:                                            39

Tropical Nights:                                                                                  0

Maximum Temperatures Above 30°C:                                            0

Number of Frosts

Ground Frosts:                                                                                 65

Air Frosts:                                                                                         33 (68.7% of 1991-2020 annual average)

Ice Days:                                                                                           1

Snow Depths (cm)

Highest Snow Depth:                                                                     2.0 (on 23/11/24)

Days With Lying Snow:                                                                  8

Days With Lying Snow at 09:00 UTC:                                         3

Consecutive Days With Lying Snow:                                           2 days (14/1 and 15/1, 19/11 and 20/11, 27/11 and 28/11)

Consecutive Days With Snow At 09:00 UTC:                            1 day (14/1 , 19/11, 27/11)

Rainfall (mm)

Total for 2024:                                                                              938.0 (119.6% of 1991-2020 annual average)

Wettest Day:                                                                                 45.0 (on 23/5/24)

Highest Hourly Total:                                                                   17.0 (on 31/12/24 at 09:00)

Rain Days:                                                                                     141 (102.6% of 1991-2020 annual average)

Dry Days:                                                                                      149

Longest Dry Spell                                                                        7 days (2/11 to 8/11, 8/12 to 14/12)

Longest Non-Dry Spell                                                               14 days (9/3 to 22/3)

Most Consecutive Rain Days                                                     9 days (21/5 to 29/5)

Longest Period Without a Rain Day:                                         20 days (2/11 to 21/11)

Month with lowest rainfall total:                                                November 2024: 31.2 (42.4% of 1991-2020 November average)

Month with highest rainfall total:                                              May 2024: 154.0 (307.0% of 1991-2020 May average)

Month with fewest rain days:                                                    November 2024: 6 (46.7% of 1991-2020 November average)

Month with most rain days:                                                       February 2024: 15 (140.2% of 1991-2020 February average)

Wind Speed (mph)

Average Mean Wind Speed:                                                    8.7 (107.1% of 1991-2020 annual average)

Highest Mean Wind Speed:                                                    41.4 (on 21/1/24)

Highest Wind Gust:                                                                  73.8 (on 21/1/24)

Most Common Wind Direction                                               WSW

Pressure (mb)

Lowest Pressure:                                                                    966.6 (on 21/1/24)

Average Pressure:                                                                  1010.9

Highest Pressure:                                                                   1044.2 (on 11/1/24)

Sunshine Total (hrs)

Total for 2024:                                                                      1175.3 (86.2% of 1991-2020 annual average)

Sunniest Day:                                                                       13.9 (on 1/6/24)

Sunless Days:                                                                       74

Most Consecutive Sunless Days:                                       5 days (8/3 to 12/3)

Month with lowest sunshine total:                                     December 2024: 19.5 (51.7% of 1991-2020 December average)

Month with highest sunshine total:                                   August 2024: 161.5 (110.9% of 1991-2020 August average)

Month with fewest sunless days:                                      June 2024: 0

Month with most sunless days:                                         December 2024: 15

Conclusion

Overall, 2024 was a slightly warmer than average year but with a disappointing summer in which the temperature failed to even reach 25°C at any point in time. December 2024 gave us our first official ice day for two years but the number of air frosts in 2024 was well below average.

2024 was a thoroughly wet year with an above average number of rain days. The spring was particularly wet and this winter has also started off on a very wet note.

2024 was also much duller than average with only 2 sunnier than average months out of 12.

In general, it wasn't the most exciting year ever and there was far too much boring and uninteresting weather for my liking.